Two Brothers and a Bike
by SiriusMarauderFan
Summary: For his seventeenth birthday, Sirius got a bike and a brother. one shot,


**Author's Note: **Written for…

All You Need Is Love Competition. _Friendship:_ James/Sirius

Rubik's Cube Challenge. _Prompt:_ right

A Demigod Wizard's Duel at the Hunger Games Competition. _Element:_ metal – Task: Write about someone who is similar to your Representative character (Apollo and Sirius) – _Prompts:_ alligator, music, exactly 1,123 words (if you count the title, which I always do)

**Two Brothers and a Bike**

Prized possessions could say a lot about a person. Many a witch or wizard would automatically respond that their wand was the most important thing in the world to them. It would undoubtedly be Remus' answer. Peter's would probably be the sweater his mum knitted for him before she died. James' favorite belonging changed weekly.

Sirius always had to be different. His first word was 'candy!', he was running before he could properly walk, and then there were the hundred-and-one instances that made him the black sheep of the Black family. In the case of his prized possession, he would easily answer his magical motorbike.

It had been a belated seventeenth birthday gift. His birthday was in mid-May, but it was on his return from Hogwarts that he found the bike parked in the back garden of the Potters' house.

James had gotten an antique wand case and a wand care kit. Mr. and Mrs. Potter apologized to Sirius for not having something more special and personal to give him, but he thought the bike was a better gift than some dusty old antique that he'd had by the bucketful in his old home.

He said it was a gift from his parents whenever someone asked about it. The answer and the bike both got him strange looks around wizarding populated areas. It was, in a sense, the truth. Dorea and Charlus had been better parents to him than Walburga and Orion ever had, and were he not now seventeen, he would have suggestion an adoption to make it all official.

James begged and pleaded to ride the motorbike first, but Dorea quickly shushed him.

"This is Sirius' present. It's _his_ decision if and when you can use it."

Sirius nearly cried. Walburga would never have stood up for him like that. If Regulus ever wanted something of his, all he'd have to do was go running to their mother and she'd demand Sirius hand it over.

He kept it together long enough to wonder about his constant comparisons between his old family and his new one. It had started innocently enough when he showed up on the Potters' doorstep the previous summer, but now it was an automatic thought process. A year ago James had been his best mate. Today he was his brother.

"It's okay, Ma'am. James can go first, if he wants to." Sirius began to step away from the bike, but Charlus put a hand on his shoulder and held him in place.

"No. One of these days James will learn that the world doesn't belong to him. Now go on, son."

_Son._

"Padfoot, just go! It's fine, but you're driving me mad just standing there slack-jawed," James barked with a smirk.

Sirius nodded and approached the bike slowly, reaching out a hand to caress the cool metal as though it would break with the slightest weight. When it didn't shift or shatter, he took a deep breath and sat down.

Stupidly, he wondered for a moment if he looked silly seated on the sleek motorbike in his torn jeans and faded t-shirt with an alligator on the front – just a few items from the wardrobe of muggle clothes he'd assembled to annoy his parents.

He revved the engine after a moment. The sound was like music to his ears, and he loved the feel of the bike beneath him.

"Can I take it out?" he asked excitedly, his eyes wide and carefree, looking for all the world like he was turning four rather than seventeen.

"Of course, take it around the block. And when you pick up enough speed, hit that gold switch there," Charlus told him, pointing out the switch on the right handlebar.

"What does it do?"

The older wizard winked at him. "It's a surprise."

"Be sure to get back before dinner, dear," Dorea called above the noise of the engine. "I've made all your favorites!"

He nodded his thanks and with a little effort he was zooming through the open gate, over the sidewalk and onto the open road. There was no such thing as practice or trial run in Sirius Black's world. It was all or nothing.

He was going faster than any beginner should have, easily passing speeding cars and an ambulance or two. Once he'd gotten used to the exhilarating feeling of the wind rushing at him, sending his hair whipping about, he flipped the golden switch.

The front wheel immediately lifted from the asphalt and Sirius braced himself, fearing the bike was about to flip over. Instead, the back wheel lifted as well and all of a sudden he was flying – well, hovering, really. He was only about two feet off the ground.

He cheered as he flew, rising higher, riding above the cars.

He thought at one point he heard his name being called, but dismissed it. He was too far up now – narrowly missing chimneys – to hear anyone below. But he heard it again a few minutes later and took a look in his rear view mirror. He hadn't bothered with them since he left the ground. There was James, waving wildly behind him on his broom.

Sirius slowed a fraction, letting his friend catch up.

"How do you like it so far?" the other boy asked, pulling his broom to ride alongside the bike.

"It's fantastic!" Sirius called back, unable to keep from grinning. "A lot faster than that bundle of twigs you're riding!"

"Let me remind you that this 'bundle of twigs' got us the Quidditch Cup two years in a row."

"My bike could still beat it in a race back to the house."

James' eyes lit up at makings of a bet. "If I win I get to take the bike out tomorrow."

"You're going to go annoy Evans, aren't you?"

"Not your business. Do we have a deal?"

"Fine," Sirius sighed disapprovingly.

The boys halted their vehicles until they were floating in midair, then slowly turned them around and matched each other's stance, leaning forward over the handles.

They took off at once and Sirius rocketed into the lead. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that he would win.

The race reminded him of days spent playing with Regulus when they were too young to understand their parents' ideals. And maybe he was being sappy and nostalgic, but he missed playing with his little brother and letting him win.

He took a glance in the rearview mirror, at the determined look of a Quidditch Captain, and made a hard decision. He slowed the bike just enough that James wouldn't know the difference.

Sirius smiled as he saw the broom zoom passed.

He liked having a brother again.


End file.
